Vikas Menon1, Sujita Kumar Kar2, Natarajan Varadharajan1, Charanya Kaliamoorthy1, Jigyansa Ipsita Pattnaik3, Ginni Sharma2, Srijeeta Mukherjee4, Nikhilesh B Shirahatti2, Ramdas Ransing5, Susanta Kumar Padhy3, S M Yasir Arafat6. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry 605006, India. 2. Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow 226003, Uttar Pradesh, India. 3. Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar 751019, Odisha, India. 4. Department of Psychiatry, MKCG Medical College, Brahmapur 760004, Odisha, India. 5. Department of Psychiatry, BKL Walalwalkar Rural Medical College, Ratnagiri 415606, Maharashtra, India. 6. Department of Psychiatry, Enam Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka 1340, Bangladesh.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Celebrity suicides have the potential to trigger suicide contagion, particularly when media reporting is detailed and imbalanced. We aimed to assess the quality of media reporting of suicide of a popular Indian entertainment celebrity against the World Health Organization (WHO) suicide reporting guidelines. METHODS: Relevant news articles that reported the actor's suicide were retrieved from online news portals of regional and English language newspapers and television channels in the immediate week following the event. Deductive content analysis of these articles was done using a pre-designed data extraction form. RESULTS: A total of 573 news articles were analyzed. Several breaches of reporting were noted in relation to mentioning the word 'celebrity' in the title of report (14.7%), inclusion of the deceased's photograph (88.5%), detailed descriptions of the method (50.4%) and location of suicide (70.6%); local language newspapers were more culpable than English newspapers. Helpful reporting characteristics such as mentioning warning signs (4.1%), including educational information (2.7%) and suicide support line details (14.0%) were rarely practiced. CONCLUSION: Media reporting of celebrity suicide in India is imbalanced and poorly adherent to suicide reporting recommendations. Local language news reports display more frequent and serious violations in reporting as opposed to English news articles.
BACKGROUND: Celebrity suicides have the potential to trigger suicide contagion, particularly when media reporting is detailed and imbalanced. We aimed to assess the quality of media reporting of suicide of a popular Indian entertainment celebrity against the World Health Organization (WHO) suicide reporting guidelines. METHODS: Relevant news articles that reported the actor's suicide were retrieved from online news portals of regional and English language newspapers and television channels in the immediate week following the event. Deductive content analysis of these articles was done using a pre-designed data extraction form. RESULTS: A total of 573 news articles were analyzed. Several breaches of reporting were noted in relation to mentioning the word 'celebrity' in the title of report (14.7%), inclusion of the deceased's photograph (88.5%), detailed descriptions of the method (50.4%) and location of suicide (70.6%); local language newspapers were more culpable than English newspapers. Helpful reporting characteristics such as mentioning warning signs (4.1%), including educational information (2.7%) and suicide support line details (14.0%) were rarely practiced. CONCLUSION: Media reporting of celebrity suicide in India is imbalanced and poorly adherent to suicide reporting recommendations. Local language news reports display more frequent and serious violations in reporting as opposed to English news articles.